The rich offerings of articles about Jewish education continues unabated. Covid-19 has been the spur for this proliferation. Many of the resulting speculations deserve our attention.

Lynn W. Raviv, a founding member and past president of RAVSAK, an organizational network for Jewish Community Day Schools, published an article this week on the ejphilanthropy website entitled The Weight We Bear and the Significance We Offer: The Power of Jewish Day Schools in Small Communities.

The article is well-written and superbly argued.

As the title announces, Raviv depicts the importance of day schools particularly in small communities. But as she writes throughout the essay, her observations about “small community” day schools also apply to the broader sweep of all day schools.

We reproduce a sampling of some of those observations and urge individuals to read the entire article.

Raviv notes that graduates of day schools can usually be counted to become positively involved for the benefit of their respective communities. This is an important point to remember when dismissing the false even scurrilous notion that day schools foster insularity and remoteness from the welfare of the community at large.

“The value proposition of these schools is not the number of students enrolled. Instead it is measured in the experience that has prepared the alumni to make positive impacts in their respective communities, both Jewish and the extended community and, in addition, the further impact that many of the alumni have and are making on the larger Jewish community, here and abroad.”

That day school graduates will likely feel a sense of Jewish peoplehood is an obvious point for Raviv. “We are a dynamic network seeding other communities. Our alumni can be counted among those who care deeply about the future of our People and who are making a difference in Jewish life.”

She concludes the essay by pleading community leaders. “How can you use your voice to make the case for Jewish day school education? Validate our mission for the sake of Jewish education. Acknowledge the plight of Jewish day schools in small communities along with their sister larger schools as we navigate through these rough waters. Help us continue the important work we have the privilege and responsibility to carry out. We share in the mission and goals of all Jewish education institutions. We are a formidable and dynamic force, and a critical player in strengthening Jewish identity and continuity throughout North America.”

Raviv is a champion of the excellence and of the importance of Jewish education. She is correct on both scores.

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Today is Yom Yerushalayim. Chag samayach.

Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Shabbat shalom

GAJE

The JTA has engaged a number of thinker/writers to anticipate and reflect upon different aspects of the post-pandemic Jewish future. The article appears in a series called Visions for the post-pandemic Jewish world: Imagining a better future.

Henry Abramson, dean of Touro College in Brooklyn, New York has contributed an article to the series entitled Technology Makes Jewish Education More Accessible. We Must Ensure the Trade-off Isn’t Our Values.

His article relates specifically to post-secondary Jewish education. He offers no predictions. Rather he emphasizes the importance of incorporating one of the anchors of the historic Jewish approach to pedagogy – namely, with the personal, individualized contact and influence of a scholar/mentor/exemplar/guider – into the inevitably unfolding new world of online, cyberspace, virtual, Zoom-based learning.

Abramson’s article is well written and thoughtful.

In the course of pleading his key points, he makes two very strong observations that have overarching relevance to Jewish education at all levels, including pre-secondary.

“Jewish civilization requires erudition, to be sure, but even more basically, it requires Jews.”

Implicit in the above statement is the irrefutable proposition that to raise children to understand, feel for, develop, advance and embrace their Jewishness, we must be able to send them to Jewish school.

And although Abramson relates his thesis to the purpose of higher Jewish education, it applies with equal force to all Jewish education, including JK through grade 12: “Institutions of Jewish higher education, on the other hand, are usually dedicated to an explicit or implicit communal agenda.”

That communal agenda has been with us since Jewish history began.

Schools, teachers and their pupils of course, have always been the ultimate guarantors of the survival of the community and thus, of Jewish history too.

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Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Shabbat shalom

GAJE

David Zimand, the Head of School at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, California published an article this week the eJewish Philanthropy website in which he says that day school education can play a special role in guiding us all through these difficult Corona days and especially after the societal return to “normal”.

Entitled Jewish Day School Education – Now As Much As Ever, the article is a bit of a mishmash of too many ideas. It is also somewhat too self-extolling of the school of which he is the head. Nevertheless, Zimand offers a valuable insight regarding the proven importance of day school education and how the core experience and values of such education can be a positive influence for our future.

It is this insight we highlight for readers.

“In confronting the vexing challenges of our current circumstances, Jewish day schools have reconnected to great powers of our missions that have been there all along. These include awareness that human beings are but one part of a vast creation in the image of God, commitment to sustaining bonds of community as core to our enterprise, broad vision of what it means to persevere, and appreciation for the inestimable value of disputation in the name of all things good and true.

“As we meet the challenges that will come next, we will bring all these values to educating our students, with humble understanding – and faith – that how we help them process the transformative events of their young lives will shape how they, in turn, will work to repair our world. We need them and they need us.”

We agree that day school education can inculcate in our children the values, skills and strength of character that the future world will need of them. But that education must be affordable.

Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Shabbat shalom

GAJE

Our children and grandchildren will soon be veterans of two-months of “remote learning”.

Educators, pedagogues, social scientists, psychologists, and a large number of other interested and expert observers around the world are carefully studying the new, pandemic-originated educational environment and related structures. Their minds are to the future because, as we know, some of the educational – and societal – changes wrought by the corona virus will outlast the end of social distancing.

Articles imagining the new educational future appear regularly now.

We bring readers’ attention to one such speculation by Dr. Jonathan Mirvis, a Melton Centre Senior Lecturer in social entrepreneurship at the Hebrew University’s Seymour Fox School of Education.

In an essay published this week by eJP entitled Post Covid-19 – The Future of Jewish Education, Mirvis writes “when we move out of lockdown, we will find ourselves in a world that is radically different from the one we left with far reaching implications for diaspora Jewish education. Parents’ ability to pay for quality Jewish education will be limited and philanthropic resources will be under funded and overstretched.”

He acknowledges that most teachers have adapted well in creatively incorporating technology into their teaching. He states that technology will play an increasing role in the delivery of education. But Mirvis does not unqualifiedly embrace technology. He notes” we have also learned to appreciate the shortcomings of technology and value the importance of social face-to-face interaction…Many [students] feel lonely and sorely miss the social interaction of a classroom. Furthermore, holistic education requires real life social experiences in peer settings. As such, social frameworks must be an integral part of our new educational future.”

Mirvis thus offers four broad principles when imagining a new vision for Jewish education:

• Attract multiple participants of all ages;
• Develop personnel that includes parents and peers in addition to teachers and informal educators;
• Operate at an affordable price;
• Offer high impact programming.

Of course we take special note that he understands and emphasizes that whatever the shape and content of Jewish education in the future, it must be affordable.

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Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Shabbat shalom

GAJE

The end of the Pesach holiday meant the return to school.  But just like Pandemic Pesach was so very different than all other Pesachs, so too is Pandemic School.

Children, parents, and teachers are well aware of the “successes” and “failures”, the ups and the downs of distance learning. But that there is school of any kind during these anxiety-laden days is a testament to the ethos of the sanctity of learning and study embedded so deeply into our very genes and chromosomes as well as to the educators doing their utmost, despite the obvious difficulties, to bring learning and study into the homes of their pupils and student.

Thus we bring to readers’ attention a tribute to educators written by Shira D. Epstein, dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Dean Epstein writes: “The conversation about educators being underappreciated is not a new one, but now more than ever is the time to place them high in our priorities, to redouble our efforts to affirm their work… As a community, we need to figure out how to bring our educators through this marathon so that they will come out strong on the other side. We need to collectively assert: “We are here for you and will not let you fail” to those who demonstrate resilience, creative thinking and flexibility – not just because this is what this time demands, but because of who they are in spirit.

“In this time of crisis, let us think of how we will bring hope, support, encouragement, and promise to the educators and leaders who have seen us through Jewish communal life. They will be there for us on the flip side of this pandemic. We, in turn, need to be here for them now.”

Let us heed Dean Epstein’s words.

To all of our educators: “Thank you. Bless you.”

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Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Marc D. Angel the founder of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals offers a mini theological “pep-talk” for maintaining our emotional and all other personal stabilities through these very difficult Covid days. As his basis for discussion, he points to the all-shattering, panic-laden dilemma faced by the Children of Israel when, in front of them they faced the impassable waters of the Reed Sea and behind them was the angry Egyptian force of charioteers and bowmen seething with the desire to exact revenge. The situation our ancestors faced did indeed seem hopeless and futile.

But we know how that situation resolved. Rabbi Angel offers some of its key learning nuggets. He recalls for us the writings of two scholars from whom we may find helpful instruction.

The late Professor Simon Rawidowicz in his fascinating essay, “Israel – the Ever-Dying People,” pointed out that it seems since the time of Abraham we’ve been worrying about our imminent demise. In each generation, going back many centuries, Jews thought that Jewish history was coming to an end. They worried about destruction at the hand of vicious enemies; they worried about exiles and expulsions; they worried about spiritual decline; they worried about assimilation. And yet, although we have been “ever-dying”, after 3500 years, Professor Rawidowicz reminds us, we are still alive!

The 19th century Rabbi Israel Salanter once quipped: “When people come to a wall that they can’t go through, they stop. When Jews come to a wall that they can’t go through–they go through.”

The reference to going through a wall brings Rabbi Angel to the dilemma at the Reed sea.

“When we… are facing enormous threats, we should worry. But we should worry in the right way.

“We should worry like Nahshon ben Aminadav (the first person to step into the Reed Sea) worried. We should not minimize the dangers and the risks; but we should deliberate on what is at stake and how we can overcome the difficulty. We should have confidence that if God has brought us this far, He will keep His promises to us and bring us ultimate redemption. We should be ready to act decisively, to think “out of the box”, to maintain forward momentum.”

Rabbi Angel adds that “perhaps our very awareness of the fragility of our existence has given us an added tenacity to survive, to find ways of solving problems.”

Of course, Rabbi Angel is correct. We – planet earth – will find a way to solve the Covid-19 problem. And then, after the threat to health has passed, we – the community of the GTA – will find a way to solve the problem of making Jewish education affordable to those families that seek it for their children.

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Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Shabbat shalom,

GAJE

Pesach 2020 is here.

Who would have thought that the annual liturgical reference to plagues would be ever more than a compelling reference point in the Haggadah?

We have been enjoined by God to be a holy people. “Holy” is not a descriptive term but rather a prescriptive one. We are not “holy” by virtue of who we are, but rather by virtue of what we do, how we behave toward each other and toward the world. Such holiness now requires us to meld our cause to the urgent, overarching cause of saving lives and saving the myriad life-affirming institutions of our community – including our schools – that together, imbued with and animated by the values of our people, strive to create for us the very best society possible.

Last week, we reproduced a National Prayer for Canada co-authored by Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.

This week we reproduce a “Special Prayer for Healing at Our Passover Tables” written by renowned educator and scholar Dr. Erica Brown. These days, many prayers are being written by remarkable people with the suggestion to invoke additional words at this year’s Seder. The point of course, is to keep in our minds and hearts – and never lose – a sense of gratitude and hope during the Covid-19 plague of 2020.

(Dr. Brown suggests that the prayer be inserted and recited in unison after reciting the Ten Plagues in the Haggadah.)

“God, who brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, shower us today with Your wonder. Bring a swift and steady end to the plague blowing through the world like pestilence. Free and deliver us. Redeem and liberate us. Lift and carry us through this crisis.

“Shine Your enduring love on those performing daily miracles: medical personnel and teachers, grocery and delivery workers, sanitations crews and volunteers, and all of our healers and helpers. Reward their kindness with good health and a thousand blessings. We thank them for lifting and carrying us through this crisis.

“Endow us with abundant love, compassion, strength and extraordinary patience to remain kind in these trying times and find true shelter in each another. Let us lift and carry one another through this crisis.

“Bring solace and consolation to those who are grieving and to those who are alone and grant a complete healing of body and soul to those who are suffering, in the spirit of Isaiah’s wisdom, “For the Lord comforts his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted ones” (49:13).

“Hear us, O Lord, and answer us, lift us and carry us, and let us say, Amen.”

•••

Be safe. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well. Be strong. Stay strong.

Chag samayach.

GAJE

Overcoming the viral pandemic surpasses all other causes in urgency and immediate priority. All other causes, values, purposes and moral principles flow into this one worldwide obligation: “defeat” the virus, treat the sick, save lives.

Those of us not “in the trenches” of the campaign also have responsibilities in this struggle. Self-isolation or quarantine does not cancel or even defer those responsibilities. We are responsible too. We can and must be agents for collective strength and positive outlook. Individual acts of kindness and chessed can help create a communal, if not also global life-sustaining weapon of inspiration against a common, international peril.

Earlier this week, Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka of Ottawa and Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast co-authored a National Prayer for Canada. A great many Canadians all around the country invoked the prayer at 3:00 pm on March 31 in the hope that common purpose heightens common resolve.

Common resolve, of course, heightens all possibilities for goodness and wide benefit.

The prayer is reproduced below.

Its words, its pleas and its aspirations can be invoked for the duration of this pandemic trial.

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O God,

We gather together separated by life-saving distancing, but united more than ever in spirit;

We know we are in a war against COVID – 19 together, and the more together we are, the better and stronger we will emerge:

We know the challenges are enormous, yet so are the opportunities;

That whether we are in isolation with loved ones, or alone, we will have abundance of time;

We commit to using that time to the max, to help those in greater need in whatever way we can;

We know we all have the opportunity, and time, to be life-savers and life enhancers;

We give thanks for those who are on the front line taking care of those who are not well;

We give thanks for the researchers who are working at breakneck speed to find cure and vaccine;

We give thanks for our leaders, federal, provincial and local, for their dedication to all of us;

We give thanks for the providers of our daily needs who go to work in spite of the risk;

We give thanks for those who have ramped up their ability to produce life-saving supplies.

We pray for the well-being of all our life savers; For those who are not well, that they recover fully;

For those enduring difficulty, that they may overcome their challenges.

We pray that a cure and vaccine will soon be available,

And that we all – family, friends, all Canadians, the entire world may be healed in body and spirit.

We ask you, O God, to bless our leaders, our front line care-givers, our life savers and life enhancers.

We ask you, O God, to bless Canada, to bless the world, to bless everyone.

Amen.

•••
Shabbat shalom.

Stay safe. Be well. Stay well.

GAJE

Last week when the full threatening force of the Covid-19 pandemic spawned governments around the world to invoke preventative medico-legal measures, the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin sent a video message specifically directed at the Jewish communities around the world. The message was one of prayers and wishes for health and wellbeing.

Rivlin is Israel’s 10th president. He was born in Jerusalem and stems from a family with multi-generational roots in the city that can be traced back more than two centuries. He is regarded by nearly one and all in Israel as a force for compassion, goodness, tolerance, benevolence and morality.

The message is ten days old, but it is also, in truth, timeless.

The following is the full text of President Rivlin’s remarks:

“My brothers and sisters, members of the global Jewish community. The whole world is, right now, in a difficult time of fear and confusion because of the corona crisis which has turned all our lives upside down and which has claimed lives. Now is the time when every country is calling out to its citizens to deal with the dangers together.

“But at this difficult time, we here in Israel think of another ‘together’ that we are part of, and look to you, our brothers and sisters of the global Jewish community. Your welfare and ours are inextricably linked. With every update on the spread of the virus that we hear from around the world, we also think of you, our family abroad and pray you are staying strong, united, healthy and well.

“The People of Israel, over the years, has managed to overcome danger and crisis and to survive, sometimes against all odds, thanks to the value we place on community and mutual responsibility which are embedded in our Jewish tradition. These are times when we must use this tradition and the values we were given to take care of ourselves while following the instructions, and to take care of others, particularly the elderly who live amongst us – in our buildings, communities and neighborhoods – those at highest risk not just of getting sick, but of finding themselves isolated and without supplies.

“Our sense of mutual obligation is the fundamental value that has protected us. This is the Jewish spirit, our spirit, and if we maintain it, it will take care of us. My dear ones, at this difficult time, when the special excitement of preparations for the Pesach holiday gives way to fear and anxiety, we, the people that dwells in Zion embrace you and send our prayers for your welfare and your good health.

“He who makes peace in the highest, may he bring peace to us and to all Israel and to all peoples of the world. God bless you and keep you healthy. Be strong and of good courage.”

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Of course, the values of which President Rivlin spoke and the warmth, concern and compassion that are the living manifestations of those values, are the very ones our children learn in their respective Jewish schools.

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To view President Rivlin’s video message, visit:
https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2020/Pages/President-Rivlin-sends-message-to-Jewish-communities-around-the-world-17-March-2020.aspx

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Shabbat shalom.

Stay safe. Be well. Stay well.

GAJE

The first week of school-at-home did not go without glitches. Indeed the Internet was a busy thoroughfare trafficking funny, sanity-saving, but all too-true memes of parental frustration with and adjustment to the complications of forced home schooling.

But that it happened at all is a testament to the dedication of our school staff to their respective duties as educators and teachers and, of course, to their love of their young pupils and their students. In a matter of a few, urgently charged days systems were put into place. Most of the wrinkles were straightened out and “formal” learning resumed.

Our children are to be praised and hugged when hugging is allowed again; parents are to be commended and supported; and teachers applauded and thanked.

Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools published an article this week on the eJewishPhilanthropy website in which he describes the challenges inherent in the quick turnaround to “virtual” learning. He also praises the schools and the families for the quick, effective, values-laden switchover to school-at-home.

“Too often, people are quick to find fault with their schools, missing the beauty of learning, and the values, as well as the social and emotional strength that schools foster in their children,” Bernstein writes. “Right now, we see our schools at their very best, dedicated to their students and families, delivering the best possible learning in adversity. Our day schools are leading the field of education with their innovations, which we are proud to share within our community, and beyond. They continue to offer a remarkable blend of secular and Jewish education, cultivating the brilliance of the next generation of vibrant Jewish learners, leaders, and community members. And, as any great school does, they are sensitive to the social and emotional needs of the children and their families during this vulnerable time.

“As we fight through this global pandemic, we are grateful to those who dedicate themselves to our health, and our safety. Please join me to say a special thank you to our children’s teachers, to the administrators, to the support staff, and to the volunteers, who ensure our schools are the beating heart of Jewish life.”

Bernstein ends his essay with hopes and wishes that we all share: “Let us wish refuah shleimah, speedy and complete recovery, to all those who are suffering and ill, as well as strength and good health to our communities as a whole.”

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Shabbat shalom. Stay safe. Be well. Stay well.

GAJE